Eight Wonders of the Trees: Mystical, Scientific, and Spiritual Secrets from Jewish Tradition

1. When God Created the Trees

According to the Midrash, when God created the trees, He commanded that the taste of their branches be the same as the taste of their fruit. But the trees disobeyed, except for the etrog tree, whose bark, leaves, and fruit all share a similar sharp and aromatic flavor. Because of this, the etrog merited to become the “fruit of the beautiful tree” (pri etz hadar) with which we rejoice before God on the festival of Sukkot. In some cultures, the etrog is even called the “fruit of paradise.” One Midrashic opinion holds that the Tree of Knowledge in Eden was actually an etrog tree.

2. The Cry of a Tree

When a tree is cut down, the sages taught that its voice travels from one end of the world to the other. For this reason, the Torah commands: “When you besiege a city... do not destroy its trees, for man is the tree of the field.” Every creation has purpose and meaning; to destroy or waste it without cause is forbidden.

3. The Death of the Prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah)

When the wicked King Menashe, son of the righteous King Chizkyahu (Hezekiah), sought to kill the prophet Yeshayahu for rebuking him, Yeshayahu fled into a forest near Jerusalem. Seeing his pursuers closing in, Yeshayahu uttered a sacred Name and miraculously became absorbed into the trunk of a tree. But Menashe ordered that the tree be sawn in half, and so Yeshayahu met his death inside it.

4. Choni the Circle-Maker and the Carob Tree

In the days of the sages, it was known that a carob tree bears fruit only after seventy years. The sage Choni HaMe'agel once saw an old man planting a carob tree and asked: “Why are you working so hard? You will never eat its fruit.” The man replied: “Just as my ancestors planted for me, so I plant for my grandchildren.”

Choni then fell asleep and miraculously slept for seventy years. When he awoke, he saw the carob tree full of fruit, and realized the man’s wisdom.

5. The Date Palm That Longed for Its Mate

A certain sage once had a date palm that bore no fruit. He asked his fellow scholars what to do, and they advised him: “It desires another palm nearby. Take a branch from a male tree and plant it beside her.” He did so, and the tree soon produced fruit.

There are male and female trees, and fruit-bearing requires pollination — often done naturally by bees, but if not, a male tree must be planted nearby so the wind carries its pollen to the female tree.

6. Why the Passover Sacrifice Was Roasted on a Pomegranate Spit

The Passover lamb was roasted specifically on a pomegranate branch, because the pomegranate’s wood is dense and dry, and it does not absorb or release moisture. If the spit contained any moisture, it could cause the meat to cook by steam instead of roasting, invalidating the offering — as the Torah commands that the Passover lamb be eaten only roasted by fire, not boiled. The pomegranate wood ensured perfect roasting.

7. The Chamber of Wood in the Temple

In the Holy Temple, priests had many duties. Priests who became injured or blemished, and could no longer serve at the altar, worked in the Chamber of Wood (Lishkat HaEtzim), carefully sorting the wood for the altar fire.

Workers throughout the Land of Israel would cut down non-fruit-bearing trees for fuel, but any log that contained a wormhole or defect was unfit for the altar. The injured priests inspected each piece of wood one by one, selecting only those that were pure and whole for the sacred fire.

8. The Trees of the Sea: The Almugim

On the ocean floor grow mysterious trees called almugim (or algum trees), related to the cedar. No human strength can uproot or cut them underwater. How, then, were they harvested for human use?

A special diver trained to dive to great depths, known as a “bar amudai”, was employed. He would tie the trees underwater to his ship above, and as the ship moved forward, its motion would pull and detach the almugim from the seabed, allowing them to be collected.